Department of Dentistry, State University of Ponta Grossa, Paraná, Brazil.
Department of Dentistry, Pontifical Catholic University of Paraná, Paraná, Brazil.
Epidemiol Health. 2021;43:e2021089. doi: 10.4178/epih.e2021089. Epub 2021 Oct 22.
To conduct a systematic review of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19)-related biosafety guidelines for dental clinical practice in the early stage of the pandemic, focusing on quality assessment.
Electronic (via PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science, Latin American and Caribbean Health Sciences Literature database, Brazilian Library in Dentistry, and Cochrane Library) and gray literature searches were performed for documents published up to May 12, 2020. Guidelines updated until April 17, 2021 were identified. Documents were included as guidelines if they (1) consisted of a set of statements, directions, or principles presenting current or future rules or policy; (2) were developed by government agencies, institutions, organizations, or expert panels; and (3) were related to the general conduct of healthcare activities rather a particular condition. Two researchers, using the Appraisal of Guidelines for Research & Evaluation II, independently extracted the recommendations and evaluated the quality of the guidelines.
Twenty-seven documents from 19 countries were included in the review. These documents presented 122 recommendations related to (1) professional biosafety; (2) patients'/companions' safety; (3) the organization and biosafety of the physical dental facility environment; and (4) the work process in dental care. Overall, the scientific quality of the guidelines was considered low. Some recommendations presented in these guidelines would require further research to establish their effectiveness.
We found a wide variety of biosafety guidelines for dental practice regarding COVID-19 in the early months of the pandemic, but their quality was low. Biosafety recommendations should be frequently updated.
系统回顾 COVID-19 相关的口腔临床实践生物安全指南，重点关注质量评估。
电子检索（通过 PubMed、Scopus、Web of Science、拉丁美洲和加勒比健康科学文献数据库、巴西牙科图书馆和 Cochrane 图书馆）和灰色文献检索，检索截至 2020 年 5 月 12 日发表的文献。确定截至 2021 年 4 月 17 日更新的指南。如果文件（1）由一套陈述、指导或原则组成，提出当前或未来的规则或政策；（2）由政府机构、机构、组织或专家小组制定；（3）与医疗保健活动的一般开展有关，而不是特定的条件，则将其视为指南。两名研究人员使用评估研究和评估 II 独立提取建议并评估指南的质量。
从 19 个国家/地区的 27 份文件中纳入了本次审查。这些文件提出了 122 条建议，涉及（1）专业生物安全；（2）患者/同伴安全；（3）物理牙科环境的组织和生物安全；（4）牙科护理工作流程。总体而言，指南的科学质量被认为较低。这些指南中的一些建议需要进一步研究以确定其有效性。
我们发现大流行早期有针对 COVID-19 的各种口腔实践生物安全指南，但质量较低。生物安全建议应定期更新。
